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Why Narendra Modi’s outreach to bureaucrats needs to be taken with a pinch of salt

Last week Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave a strong message to bureaucrats to take decisions without fear and ensure timely delivery of government schemes across the country. Modi was reaching out to top IAS officers on the occasion of Civil Services Day where district magistrates of nearly 600 out of a total of 706 districts were present through video conferencing. Though the idea of this speech was to motivate Indian bureaucracy, most officers would need a little more assurance than just fiery speeches from the Modi government.

PM exhorts civil servants to become “agents of change”; calls upon Government officers to engage with people. (narendramodi.in)

Modi went on to say, “If a decision is taken with honest intention, truthfulness and for the welfare of public, there is nobody in the world who can raise a finger at you. Yes, something may happen momentarily, but I am with you.” Juxtapose this with Haryana’s BJP government’s decision to transfer whistle-blower IAS officer Ashok Khemka from transport commissioner to archaeology department on April 6. Khemka had completed a little over four months into the job before getting his 47th transfer in less than 25 years of service. The upright officer had taken on the previous Congress regime by unearthing details about party president Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law Robert Vadra’s land deals which allegedly violate the law.

Another case is that of IFS officer Sanjiv Chaturvedi who was removed as Chief Vigilance Officer of AIIMS after the NDA government was sworn in 2014. BJP leader JP Nadda had openly demanded his removal from AIIMS then. Last year, the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) ruled that Chaturvedi’s removal was in violation of the principle of natural justice. Modi government has refused to grant him inter-cadre deputation to Delhi government where Arvind Kejriwal is keen to work with him. Incidentally Chaturvedi was awarded the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award in 2015 for exposing corruption.

At the same function on Friday, Modi claimed he has extra political will and exhorted bureaucrats to work together as a team for transforming the country. Perhaps the Modi government should introspect and follow up its words with action especially when it claims to have made fighting corruption one of its main policy goals.